Wicked Mike's Best Foreign Documentaries
Some of the most interesting, frightening, and educational documentaries are about places where no one speaks English. To deprive ourselves of culture shock is to make ourselves diluted; selfish and boring. These documentaries will dive your mind into the blood and tapestry we need to be human.
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- DirectorFeras FayyadStarsAmani BallourAlaaSamaherAmidst air strikes and bombings, a group of female doctors in Ghouta, Syria struggle with systemic sexism while trying to care for the injured using limited resources.Syria
- DirectorPetra CostaStarsDilma RousseffLuiz Inácio Lula da SilvaMarisa Letícia Lula da SilvaPolitical documentary and personal memoir collide in this exploration into the complex truth behind the unraveling of two Brazilian presidencies.Brazil
- DirectorAlexander NanauStarsDan Alexandru CondreaLiviu IoluRazvan LutacDirector Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.Romania
- DirectorEvgeny AfineevskyStarsHis Beatitude SviatoslavSaid IsmagilovBishop AgapitA documentary on the unrest in Ukraine during 2013 and 2014, as student demonstrations supporting European integration grew into a violent revolution calling for the resignation of President Viktor F. Yanukovich.Ukraine
- DirectorLauren GreenfieldStarsImelda MarcosEtta RosalesFerdinand MarcosAn extraordinary look into the political career of Imelda Marcos, this documentary tells a cautionary tale of a powerful leader whose questionable sense of reality divided the Philippines.Philippines
- DirectorWaad Al-KateabEdward WattsStarsWaad Al-KateabSama Al-KhateabHamza Al-KhateabFOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war.Syria
- DirectorSarah PolleyStarsMichael PolleyJohn BuchanMark PolleyA film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.Canada
- DirectorLixin FanStarsChanghua ZhangYang ZhangSuqin ChenA couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.China
- DirectorJehane NoujaimStarsAhmed HassanKhalid AbdallaMagdy AshourA group of Egyptian revolutionaries battle leaders and regimes, risking their lives to build a new society of conscience.Egypt
- DirectorEmad BurnatGuy DavidiStarsEmad BurnatSoraya BurnatMohammed BurnatA documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.Palestine
- DirectorEdet BelzbergStarsCristina IonescuMihai Alexandre TudoseVioleta 'Macarena' RosuA profile of homeless Romanian children who were born victims of the nation's reckless population growth policy during its communist era.Romania
- DirectorJames MarshStarsPhilippe PetitJean François HeckelJean-Louis BlondeauA look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".France
- DirectorDavid FranceStarsOlga BaranovaDavid IsteevRamzan KadyrovA group of activists risk their lives fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Chechnya.Chechnya
- DirectorHogir HiroriStarsMahmud ReshoSihamZahraFilm follows a group into Syria's Al-Hol, a dangerous camp in the Middle East, as they risk their lives to save a women being held by ISIS as abducted sex slaves.Syria and Iraq
- DirectorAbdallah OmeishStarsAyman MohyeldinSherine TadrosIn 2008 two best friends found themselves trapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth - the only western journalists in the Gaza Strip on what was supposed to be a 24-hour assignment. The War Around Us captures the collision of veteran war correspondent and one of TIME's most 100 influential people, Ayman Mohyeldin, with rookie reporter Sherine Tadros. As missiles shower the city and unspeakable atrocities emerge, the pair is torn by fierce professional rivalry, private terror and grim humor - with no way out and the whole world watching.Gaza, Palestine
- DirectorChloe FairweatherOver one in three women in Turkey experience domestic violence. Lawyer Ipek Bozkurt's clients risk their lives while fighting the culture of violence in courtTurkey
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsEnnio MorriconeSilvano AgostiAlessandro AlessandroniA documentary on the legendary film composer Ennio Morricone.Italy
- DirectorDavid OsitStarsMusa HadidMahmoud AbbasMohammad Ibrahim ShtayyehA look at the life of Musa Hadid, the charismatic mayor of Palestinian city Ramallah, who aspires to lead the city into the future.West Bank, Palestine
- DirectorNaotarô EndôThrough the lives of professionals working at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, the film portrays how Tsukiji has been the center of fish culinary culture and helped Japanese food culture to flourish as we know it today.Japan
- DirectorSushmit GhoshRintu ThomasStarsMeera DeviShyamkali DeviSuneeta PrajapatiIn a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India's only newspaper run by Dalit women. Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, redefining what it means to be powerful.India
- DirectorDavid GelbStarsJiro OnoYoshikazu OnoMasuhiro YamamotoA documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu.Japan
- DirectorNanfu WangJialing ZhangStarsNanfu WangZaodi WangZhimei WangAfter becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.China
- DirectorRobin BarnwellStarsWill LymanPriyanka BoghaniSarah ChildressWith unique access inside the battle for Hong Kong, FRONTLINE follows five protesters through the most intense clashes over several months of pro-democracy protests. The film examines their struggle against growing influence from the communist government of China.Hong Kong, China
- DirectorDaniel GabrielStarsBashar AtiyatAli MulaAnouar H. SmaineThe gritty, thrilling story of local militias and uneasy allies who banded together to liberate Iraq's second-largest city of 1.3 million people from ISIS in 2017.Iraq
- DirectorJoshua OppenheimerStarsAdi RukunM.Y. BasrunVolker HanischA family that survived the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.Indonesia